Low back pain is one of the most common health issues people face. In the United States alone, approximately 60% to 80% of the adult population suffer from low back pain and/or neck pain. Back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years of age. It is the second most common reason people cite for seeking medical attention. Every year, approximately 13 million people seek medical treatment for chronic back pain. The condition leaves about 2.4 million Americans chronically disabled, and another 2.4 million temporarily disabled. Approximately $90 billion is spent on the diagnosis and management of low back pain, with an additional $10-20 billion of annual economic losses attributed to the corresponding reduction in worker productivity.
In most cases, low back and neck pain are the direct result of poor anatomical spinal alignment. Individuals living with poor spinal alignment may suffer from restricted spinal flexibility, spinal instability, and reduced strength. These conditions often lead to chronic pain, discomfort and stiffness, which correspondingly reduce, and otherwise negatively impact, the affected individual's quality of life while going about normal, everyday functional activities, recreational activities, work-related activities, sports-related activities, and the like.
Most back pain can be prevented by maintaining proper spinal alignment and making sure to practice good body mechanics, such as maintaining proper posture while lifting heavy objects, participating in everyday recreational activities, or playing in sporting events in a way that won't strain the back.
Elastic therapeutic tape, commonly referred to as “kinesiology tape,” is a widely used approach for addressing muscle and joint pain and disability; particularly, among athletes. A major drawback, or shortcoming, commonly associated with taping is that it is too flimsy and oftentimes does not provide adequate structural support. It is used primarily as a feedback mechanism while attached to the skin in order to prevent the occurrence of an abnormal, or otherwise undesirable, posture. However, taping does not adequately restrict motion, nor prevent an individual from maintaining an abnormal, or undesirable, posture because the tape's inherently high degree of structural flexibility precludes its use for providing sufficient anatomical support and/or maintaining proper anatomical alignment. Other conventional approaches, which are inherently more structurally sound than tape, include the use of braces and adhesive foam supports. However, conventional braces and adhesive supports typically lack an accurate anatomical design, fail to incorporate means for conforming to the unique anatomical variations from person to person, restrict an individual user's optimal range of motion, and provide less-than-optimal support of the spine. Furthermore, donning conventional bracing presents a host of additional issues; for example, bracing is often cumbersome, difficult to apply, and, because it is normally worn over clothing, causes the individual wearer to become uncomfortably hot and sweaty. Likewise, adhesive foam supports are generally uncomfortable and restrict, or limit, proper anatomic range of motion. Furthermore, these and other known approaches are not designed to mimic, or conform to, the normal anatomy of the human spine. Consequently, currently-available products and associated methods do not allow for appropriate degrees of freedom of motion, or movement, of the spine in an anatomically correct manner, do not provide optimal desired spinal support, and do not provide means for correcting male alignment.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an innovation that will overcome the aforementioned deficiencies and limitations of known devices, products and methods.